Dutee Chand, The First Openly Gay Indian Athlete, Disowned By Native Village

With the coming out of famous Olympians, tennis greats and basketball players, the world of sports is becoming more and more accepting of homosexual players. And the recent athlete to join the sports’ LGBT community is none other than India’s sprinter Dutee Chand. However the latest news is that she has been disowned by her native village as they feel having the presence of Chand is “humiliating” for them. 

100 m record holder and winner of two silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games, Chand claimed to have found her soulmate in a girl from her hometown Chaka Gopalpur in Orissa. However, she has not disclosed the identity of her partner because she doesn’t want her to become ‘the center of undue attention’. Due to the parochial outlook of Chand’s village, and constant hostile remarks, reports also suggest that Chand and her partner may move from there.

Currently, the ace sprinter is training hard to qualify for the World Championships and Tokyo Olympics 2020. Life hasn’t been a cake walk for Chand as she had to fight and win a ‘gender’ case against the international federation at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) last year. She was dropped from India’s Commonwealth Games after a test found that she fell foul of the testosterone cap rules. The athlete fought back hard and went against the idea of undergoing surgery to lower her testosterone levels. In a landmark judgement, she was finally cleared by CAS to compete in national and international athletic events.